Friday, March 30, 2012

Thought I would write a quick update! Jason went to the gym and I stayed home to do laundry and clean so I wouldn't have to spend my Sunday doing so. I know I get two days off a week, but having them split up makes it feel like no time at all!! Last Sunday night I felt like my whole day was wasted and I didn't feel rested at all. Jason said I just didn't want to go to the gym, but really I didn't want to go to the gym and then have to come home and do everything.

I haven't slept well in the last couple of nights, my hips are killing me.. no explanation just some times they hurt a lot and the last couple of days that's been the case. Its this awful throbbing pain in my joint and surrounding areas.. not fun!

The last couple of days have been really busy at work and Ive been on my own. Deanna came in for awhile yesterday, long enough for me to clarify what Tom was talking about the day before in regards to me having time off and what not. So they are going to be away from April 11 - 10 and May 10 - 24 I believe and I knew that they expected me to work but where it went screwy was how they thought it would play out when I did. I was told that I would not get time and a half after 40 hours, so I looked it up on the Alaska Labor Laws and it said that it is the LAW that if an employee works over 40 hours a week they are entitled to time and a half, unless they are salary! So turns out I'm salary, which means if I worked my days off I would get straight time.. doesn't really seem worth my wild! But it does mean that if I come in late or leave early for an appointment, or I have to take a sick day they cant dock my pay.. SWEET!

Anyways Tom and Deanna offered to instead of pay me for my 3 days off that I will work they will let me have those three days off when my parents are here.. SO HAPPY! To be honest I'm surprised they were willing to do this and so extremely grateful! So the first week everyone is here I will pretty much have the whole week off!! I told her that I couldn't be more appreciative and spending the time with them meant so much to me and she said that they appreciate how hard I work and that I'm willing to cover for them so they thought this would be a good trade off.. ABSOLUTELY! They really do have their good moments!

Today was super busy yet successful, I rented two units.. one of those being the one that those kids were going to be responsible for if I didn't. I just didn't feel right about taking their money.. actually I didn't feel right about taking Lily's money.. the other two were little fuckers and I knew it from the start, I would have gladly taken his money but it was a package deal! Lily came in early this afternoon and brought in her half of April's rent and I could tell she didn't want to part with the money.. I told her to give me the rest of day.. I was trying so damn hard! I was super excited to call her and tell her that I had rented it out and she could come back and pick up her money! She came in tonight and sat and chatted with me and said that she had decided to go to college and is working two jobs and this has been really stressful on account that the morons she was going to live with said that she should have the pay the whole thing herself, and they weren't paying anything and we could take them to court... how I would have loved that! Anyways in the end I told her I would have never let her do that, his name was on the lease and he was the only one who signed.. he was the one with the problem, not her! Kids these days!!

I assume you have all seen my rant about Mini Eggs on facebook? I feel the need to rant again.. WHY THE HELL DOES CADBURY NOT HAVE MERCHANDISE IN ALASKA! I'm so livid.. I don't even know what to do.. what is Easter without a god damn mini egg? I'm told I have some on the way though and that makes me pretty happy!

Came home to a lovely postcard from Bob & Joyce!! Thanks so much for thinking of us guys!! Great postcard, you should come out here and visit this summer and see those things in the wild!!

We also got our GCI cable/phone/Internet bill.. I don't remember what it was last month but Jason said that my managers discount was only $20.00.. we didn't complain because it was better than nothing but this month the discount is $52.00!! NICE! Plus Jay our rep gave me a bunch of movie tickets, so if we rent a movie on TV I just fill out one of these tickets and send it in and we get the movie for free!! This job has some perks!!

So that's about it, Jason went last night to get his Alaska ID so he can buy a hand gun and when he went to get it they wouldn't give it to him on account that he laminated his Social Security Card and it says right on the card NOT to do that. So he had to get a new Social Security Card sent to the apartment and they gave him a letter saying his card was legit so he got an Alaska ID and I assume sometime in the near future a 357 hand gun will be a new possession of his.

I'm going to have a shower and make my lunch for tomorrow! I have a really busy morning tomorrow so I'm hoping that means the day will fly by like it did today although I haven't gotten a lot of reading time which sucks because I'm loving this book!

I hope everyone has a GREAT weekend! We were getting nice weather here but its definitely cooled down a lot.. Jason likes to keep the apartments heat on 62... needless to say that doesn't go over all that well! So I hope everyone else is warmer!

Haven't seen Bruce in awhile, maybe I'll put an apple out tomorrow and see if he comes around.

Check this out it was in the newspaper yesterday... These Alaskans have no fear!

Thursday, March 29, 2012

I don't have a lot of time but I HAD to blog today and tell you what happened at the end of my day today.. UNBELIEVABLE!!!

First of all HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE LOVELY AND BEAUTIFUL CAITE!!!! Hope you have a wonderful day lady!!

So my day was crazy busy, I was on the go all morning, and with the snow melting because we are actually having weather above freezing and everywhere you look there's a lake!! So naturally we are getting tons of calls that peoples roofs are leaking.. today it is into the light fixtures above the washing machines. So Mr. Phillips has lived here forever and is a wonderful gentlemen was very kind about the whole situation possibly because he dealt with the same thing last year.

So I showed a bunch of units and had a lot of interest and had a lot of promise for people to bring back their applications tomorrow, especially from military! As my day was winding down I decided to read the new Sophie Kinsella book that Tasha sent me for me nook (THANK YOU AGAIN!! I'M LOVING IT!) I was so content sitting there and reading when the phone rings and it comes up a Washington cell number.. I didn't even think.. I didn't even put two and two together that it could be one of the SNC guys.. well it was.. and worst of all it was Kevin Mallory!!! Kevin is such a hard ass, it was his walk through I did that was awful and Tom and I got into an argument about and I cried!! He is completely in his right wanting things done and wanting them done properly but he's a jerk about it most of the time, he wants it done only when its convenient for him and he doesn't even go about that in a nice way. This was all before he even met Jason. Since meeting Jason and finding out that I don't like my job or the way they are he seems to be a lot nicer to me.

So he calls and tells me its a significant leak over the washer, and that the light fixture is filling.. haha sound familiar??? So I told him that I would call maintenance and have them come and look at it. So I called Mike and he said that all he can do is put a bucket underneath the drip.. SHIT! I know Kevin isn't going to take that.. and hes going to give me shit about it. So I called Tom (at my own risk) before I even called Kevin back. (Side note - Tom actually came in today and said that he and Deanna would be away from April 11-20 and May 10-24 and I would have 3 Tuesdays in there that I would have to work and so if I wanted I could take the 3 days off when my parents comes so I would basically have almost a week off when they are here!!) So I called Tom and he said.. OMG get a tea, sit down, you aren't going to fucking believe it!!

HE SAID "There is nothing we can do. These people are pathetic, they cant mop up a little bit of water? They want to take everything they can get from us. What pisses me off more is that they come here and take Alaskans jobs because they get three times and the pay and can actually get a job, they are pathetic, they make me sick... they should just get use to Alaska or leave!!" HAHA It took everything I had not to say.. Well Jesus Tom what do you think about me? or my husband who works for the same company as this gentlemen?? MAYBE THEY ARE HERE BECAUSE NOT EVERYONE CAN BUILD A POWER PLANT YOU DICK!!! I couldn't even believe it.

Anyways I called Kevin back and was honest, I didn't tell him that (although I told Jason and he said that he was going to tell him tomorrow) but I told him that they wouldn't do anything, I told him that Jason and I had the exact same problem and so have many other people and they wont do anything about it. I said that I understand its an electrical hazard and he is absolutely within his right to be PISSED but short of getting on the roof myself and shovelling the snow there is nothing that I can do. I told him to call back tomorrow and talk to Deanna. So then I got off the phone with him and he was pleasant, and then I felt worse and called back and gave him the after hours emergency number which is Tom and Deanna's house phone and I told him to call after 6:00pm and he would get Tom and he is the one telling me that there is nothing can be done.. and he thanked me and said he would climb the ladder from there! So I am DYING to know what Tom said to him. I have heard many stories about people calling about emergencies and stuff and ended up moving out because of the way they were spoke too!! He actually called one woman's husband a "pussy" for calling the emergency phone when he felt the guy could have handled the problem himself! HAHA.. needless to say they too moved out!

I couldn't even believe it, I couldn't wait to get into the truck and tell Jason what had happened! I know that Jason cant wait to go to work tomorrow and see what happened! Friggin' joke! These are the people I work for!

So that was my day, after work Jason picked me up and we went right to the grocery store and came home and put groceries away and had sandwiches for dinner. I'm going to have a shower and go to bed early. Jason has been exhausted for days he's really not sleeping well at all for some reason and his gums are bothering him?? I don't know.. he's convinced he has mono.. haha I don't think so but something. I'm trying to convince him to give Melatonin a try, or I have some mild sleep aids in the medicine cabinet for when insomnia strikes.. so we'll see.. he's not keeping me up yet so I don't have to slip anything into his drink when hes not looking! I'M KIDDING.. kind of.

Alright I'm going to get ready for bed.. I just HAD to share that story with you!! Hilarious!

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Well talk about having something interesting to blog about! Bruce is back and let me tell you he was ready to get up close and personal! Maybe he was looking for a place to rent, it was cold out today! Sad truth is the poor bugger is hungry and looking to get food where ever he can!! Deanna wouldn't let me give him my apple, she was in a mood today! I should have just done it anyways!! But so you can get acquainted.. please meet Bruce!!!

He seemed so friendly... I so wanted to pet him, he was only 4 feet from me! I was sending Jason pictures of him though and he warned me to keep my distance if I didn't want to get trampled! I have seen this guy run before so I took the advice.. but he was so cute!!

I hope Bruce is around to meet the family when they come, maybe even with horns!! I don't think this year though! But maybe Bruce has a dad, he came from somewhere.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Honestly when I am working out I don't care what your boyfriends sister did to her best friend, finish with the machine and move on bitches!! I love the gym simply for the amusing crowd!! There are old ladies in there dressed in all their fancy work out clothes not working out at all, clearly just looking for a date. Young girls in their fancy work out clothes gossiping with their 6 friends, clearly only there because its cool to say you are at the gym. Old men who don't know how to use any of the machines and couldn't even use them even if they did know... then these young muscle heads who are just there to show off..

I started this blog Thursday or Friday night.. which ever day we went to the gym and then I didn't finish it.. Not much really happening around here to be honest. Its still cold out if any of you were wondering.

I worked yesterday and it was the longest day of my life.. LONGEST DAY! In the whole 8 hours I was there I saw 2 faces besides Mike the maintenance guy and got 3 phone calls.. needless to say the blanket I'm working on is significantly bigger!! I cant stand slow days like that, I would just as soon be busy all day and have the day fly by then have it be slow like that all the time. So I had a walk thru scheduled for yesterday morning at 10am, so I was suppose to just do it before I went to work.. well she called on Friday and said that it wasn't going to work for her so I said that I could do it last night and she said 5:15pm worked for her so I left the office at 5:10pm, did my walk thru and came home!!

We watched 'The Descendants" last night.. I don't even know what to say about it to be honest.. I don't even know! It was a weird movie.. the whole time I kept thinking.. so what exactly is the point of this movie??? There seemed to be no plot to follow.. I wasn't really happy about that. I guess it was a good movie.. but at the end I still didn't really know what the point of it was suppose to be.

Today we slept in and then I got up and started laundry, bedding, cleaning and all that jazz. We headed out to check out another outdoors store that Jason discovered... It was nice but extremely over priced if you ask me!! Jason found a hand gun that he really likes though so I'm not sure where that will go. Then we made a quick stop in at Walmart and headed home.

Jason said that he would clean the master bath and when doing so the toilet somehow got plugged and when I called Clayton (who I didn't call for the first emergency call because I didn't know he was the one on call.. oops!) he said that we have 2 toilets so its not an emergency!! Lazy bastard he just didn't want to walk over here and deal with it. So now Jason is insisting that I get up and get ready early so he can come in and look at it in the morning.. swell... fucking people... I'm not a morning person, I don't want to have to deal with anyone that early... but whatever!

Nothing exciting planned for tonight.. Jason made homemade spaghetti sauce so we are having spaghetti for dinner. When I'm done this I'm going to head into the kitchen and make his breakfast and stuff for tomorrow so I don't have to do that later.

I tell ya a day off doesn't seem like a day off when you are busy the whole day.

Maybe I'll have something more exciting to blog about tomorrow...its been a pretty slow week!!

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Lets me honest all Alaska has going for it is the scenery! So last night we went to the Sportsman Warehouse to look for hiking shoes for me and when looking at handguns the gentleman helping us gave us the name of his website and its all AMAZING pictures he has taken around Alaska!! I thought you might all like to check them out! Enjoy!

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Greetings from the deep freeze! Regardless of all that is good it absolutely never fails it is always freezing here!!

Yesterday started off awesome, I planned to sleep in much later than usual because I am always so tired it seems and of course because I'm on call I get an emergency call at 6:30am!!! I was asleep and the phone rang and I answered it and it was the creep show I moved in last week! He realizes he has woken me and apologizes and said he would have called later if he would have known that it was my personal phone. So he AGAIN details his shower to tell me when exactly his hot water went out.. so I tell him that when I got in I will have Mike come and look at it! Then he says "So how are you??".. you're kidding me? you want to chat? I'm tired, screw off!!

So I went to work and it was fine for the most part, I made another pot holder and I started on a blanket last night.. it will probably take me forever but I'm sure excited about it!! We had the young couple come in again who wanted out of their lease.. well they gave their deposit and signed the lease.. therefore I have entered it all into the computer and the lease is a legally binding contract! So although surprisingly Deanna isn't going to charge them the $695.00 for breaking the lease she is going to keep their $500.00 and they are expected to pay rent for the first month unless we rent it.. that's the way it goes. I'm sorry they jut wasted $1,900.00 when they are teenagers and she is pregnant and due in 2 weeks or something but it is what it is. The shouldn't have rushed into it, they should have thought about it So they didn't seem impressed leaving but what can they do? So the girl who was also getting in on the deal I guess decided to go to college and when she caught wind of the news she decided to come in herself and see. She said that this guy is already talking about lawyers and stuff so I was honest with her... he is going to get a lawyer and take us to court.. hes going to still owe the $1,900.00 plus hes going to pay our court cost $450.00 plus his own and we will then charge the $695.00 for breaking the lease... is it really worth it? The lease was drawn up by a lawyer.. it is what it is.. he signed it knowing the terms and conditions.. deal with it! Or waste your money and pay more.. your choice.

After that I had the pleasure of doing the move out of Private Henry Williams. I know Henry pretty well as Ive dealt with his rent and all his military orders to do the move out. Mr. Williams was deployed with no noticed to Afghanistan to take the place of a fallen soldier. He will leave his daughter of whom he parents by himself and she will move back to Texas to be with his sister, he will leave his belongings and go there knowing the danger to risk his life until November. I don't know if it is because dealing the the military so closely is something so new to me, or because I know Henry Williams so well and think he is such a wonderful guy.. but it was really emotional... I cant imagine what he is going through or his family.

Henry was originally air force and decided to end his career there quite awhile back, he found that he really missed it and decided to re-enlist.. however they were at that time no longer taking re-enlistments because they were downsizing... so he enlisted in the military. He was sent out here in preparation for deployment to Afghanistan but upon arrival told that he would absolutely not be leaving here, so he brought his daughter out and got her in school and 2 weeks ago he got his orders. I got a ride over to his place with him and we talked about nepotism in the army and laughed about how the porkers get away with not going through the fitness assessments.. he graciously answered all my questions about what he does and deploying and how he felt about it. After his walk through he insisted on taking me back to the office and I couldn't help but think about all the faces we have seen on the news for years of fallen soldiers.. I wished him well and told him to stay safe! I thanked him for all he does for our country and closed the door. I cant help but wonder what life will be like for him over there and hope that he comes back to his daughter safe.

Of course Jason saw the sadness in the situation but he was beyond pissed that I got in this guys car! I tried to explain to him that Deanna insisted even though she was there and I wouldn't have done it if I didn't know Henry but Jason was furious! There has been a few kidnappings here and I probably shouldn't have done that.

Last night was a quiet night, I crocheted and Jason watched TV and then we went to bed early. I slept in this morning which was GREAT, then Tammy, Imelda and I went and got manicures and pedicures and it was GREAT!!! The pedicures were EXACTLY like the awesome ones we get at home and I got the gel nails because I bite mine so bad and I'm really trying hard to stop! It was a GREAT day!! Tammy leaves tonight at 12:30am for her flight home to Mississippi.. she has a layover in Seattle and one in Dallas and then she will get home tomorrow night at 5:00pm!! Can you even imagine.. this place is so far out!! So I will be on my own on Tuesdays from now on.. so sad!!

So Jason should be home anytime and then we are heading to the gym and come home and make dinner and stuff!! Nothing too exciting!!

Sunday, March 18, 2012

I thought I would update you all on whats been going on this week because for some reason I feel like I actually have a lot that I haven't told you, which I guess really cant be true on account that I have blogged more this week than I ever blog.. oh well if I repeat stuff I apologize.

Wednesday night was my first night back at the gym, I wasn't too impressed when we went in to be honest.. Jason has been going with Josh and since we got the membership and said it was nice, and clean and never busy.. well when we went on Wednesday night it was PACKED and smelled like a friggin' locker room!! There were really no machines available and I just felt like I was in the way or people the whole time and people were staring, I wasn't really comfortable. Either way I got a good work out and we came home. Thursday night after work we went for a walk.. and I know I posted pictures of that walk so you know all about that.. haha ok I catching myself before I repeat stuff!

Friday after work Jason went to the gym and I walked around Fred Myers getting yarn and crocheting needles and chatting away to mom! I didn't feel like going to the gym and I wanted to get my own crocheting stuff and we needed a few groceries! When I left there I went to the truck and when I opened the back door to put the groceries in Jason's gym bag was there.. haha he was in Fred Myers looking for me! So I text his phone and told him I was in the truck.. while I was sitting there waiting you are NEVER going to believe what I saw!!! Some guy had his car door open in the parking lot with his shoe and sock off cutting his toe nails.. GROSS! Its so unbelievable... so much so that I didn't want anyone to think I was lying so I took a picture to prove it! hahaha!!!

Friday night we decided to go and watch the Northern Lights.. it was suppose to be a good show and we haven't seem them SUPER great yet and that is something I was really looking forward to when coming here! So we stayed up and went out at about 10:30pm and drove down to Earthquake Park! (I don't know if Ive ever told you guys but we feel earthquakes here all the time, I would say at least 3 times a week! Alaska is on a major fault line and literally sometimes I will be sitting on the couch and the whole apartment will shake for a good minute, sometimes its worse than others!) anyways we could see them driving up to the parking lot we wanted to go to.. we went to the far one first but the airport is right there and the planes kept flying right over our heads.. haha one time when the plane took off the Northern lights faded a little.. and Jason was like "Great the plane pissed off the sky" I couldn't help but laugh and tell him I didn't really think that was how it worked! So we went up to the next parking lot and it was still good there! I didn't get any pictures but Gary Jones was out the same night and saw EXACTLY what we saw so I thought I would share a few of his pictures so you can see what we saw! It really is amazing to watch these lights dance across the sky with no rhyme or reason!

We didn't get home until after midnight and so needless to say Saturday I was tired! Work was pretty busy though which was good because it kept me busy and the day went by faster! Although it wasn't exactly a good day on account that two people backed out of their rentals when they had already given their deposits. Legally they forfeit their deposit in doing that because that's why we get a deposit, we take a unit off the market to ensure they get it and therefore in that time we could have rented it to someone else. This is also why we insist their deposit be paid by money order because that way they cant put a stop payment on the check.. either way the girl is pregnant and I talked to her and she said that she felt like she dove in too fast and she didn't know that she could FOR SURE make the payments! So I gave her the deposit back, I'm not sure what she can do with it because its a money order but whatever, I didn't feel right about keeping it. I don't know what will happen with the other couple, Deanna rented to them.. I don't want to deal with it. The guy is a creep show!

Anyways last night we wanted to go out for St. Patricks day! Well I wanted to go out, I'm convinced my red hair makes it against the law not to celebrate! Jason and the guys seemed indifferent but by the time my work day was over and Jason was home from skiing there was BIG plans! So I got ready and we picked up Rob, Josh and Chris and headed to O'Bradys (fitting right!) they told us it would be 45 minutes to an hour and we said we would wait in the bar and then we got a table in literally 5 minutes! So we all ordered traditional food.. Jason & Josh got fish and chips, Rob & Chris got corned beef and cabbage and although I debated the Shepard's pie on account that no one would make it like mom I got it.. with a corn dog on the side! I was hungry!! Anyways dinner SUCKED! Josh & Jason's fish wasn't really cooked, Rob & Chris's potatoes were kind of hard and my Shepard's pie was disgusting! I couldn't believe it.. they call themselves an Irish Pub.. WTF! My corn dog wasn't bad.. and I said I didn't want fries with it.. just the corn dog and this is how it came...

KRAFT DINNER! I almost fucking died!! I cant even stand the smell of this stuff, I have absolutely NEVER bought it and nor would I.. I think its sooo disgusting.. lol but Jason dove right in! The meal wasn't so expensive which was good on account that it sucked!

So then we headed back to our apartment to meet Zach and call cabs to go to the next bar. So we called cabs and they wouldn't send a van and there was 6 of us so I got in the first cab with Chris and Zach and we headed to the bar! The place is this HUGE building and there is 9 bars in it I think.. one had a band, one had a deejay, one was like a country theme, the Russian room the bar was made out of ice, they had patios, etc! Anyways everyone was drunk but me because I wasn't feeling like shit like I had the weekend before.

So we toured around and the band was really good so we watched them for awhile, then they started a wet tshirt competition! Well let me tell you.. what a mixed bag of BAD this bar had for girls! Zach and Chris are single and I think they would have had to lower their standards significantly to even talk to these girls. I'm not being a bitch, but these girls had no self respect, it was bad! I had a really good time sitting with the guys while Josh, Jason and Rob went on about how happy they were that they are married and Chris and Zach were pointing out everything wrong with every girl. I can see why there is 5 guys for every girl around here.

Anyways the place filled up when the girls took the stage with their ripped wife beaters and completely diminished any self respect they had while having guys pour water on them. But honestly from where we were we couldn't have seen any of it if we wanted to.. we were so far in the back and we couldn't move, before girl number 2 hit the stage the guys already had a pool table in the other room. Thinking it was safer in there I suppose but eventually the guys who had been playing at the next table to ours all night were escorted out for having a gun.. awesome right! We had to go through metal detectors to get into the damn place.. are they just for show? Christ!

Eventually everyone started to die down and was ready to bounce! We headed outside for cabs which took awhile to even make it to the parking lot, this place was PACKED! We got outside and piled into a cab, which parked beside some guy trying to make himself puke! Chris went back in hoping to find a winner, and the rest of us piled in. Unfortunately the guy realized there was too many of us and said he would lose his license if he got caught.. so Zach and Josh got out because we wanted to go eat and they just wanted to go home! We headed to Denny's.. CLOSED... Ihop.. CLOSED! WTF where do drunk people eat at 2am when everything is closed!?! Isn't Denny's open 24/7? isn't it law? So we ended up at this random diner and we get in and get ready to order and Rob realizes he left his IPhone in the cab.. FUCK! So we call it a million times and we cant get anyone and so Jason calls the cab company and finally the cab driver calls Jason back and says he will bring the phone back if he gets some cash for his gas.. asshole! So he says he wont be long, so we try to RUSH through our meal thinking we would catch a ride home with him.. well he gets there and were running out the door and trying to pay (literally I'm at the cash and Jason is standing at the front door with his sandwich and bowl of gravy dipping.. lol) but Rob came back in and said he wouldn't give us a ride he had people waiting! So we sat back down and continued to eat while Jason called another cab!

While we were in the diner there was this odd group of 3 sitting a couple of tables over cursing up a storm and being thugs basically! So when we went out when we saw the cab pull up they were out there saying it was there cab... haha well Jason was already literally pulling the people out of it who were being dropped off and yelling "This is for Jason right?!?!" so theses people start to freak out.. literally LOSING IT!.. and I worry about stuff like that because there are a lot of bad areas in Anchorage and a lot of crime. So Jason gets in.. haha and tells everyone to get in we will split it.. well the cabby isn't having that! So finally one of the people in this threesome was a guy and tells me to get in the cab because he can tell I'm freezing. I profusely apologize telling this guy that we had called a cab and I was sorry theirs hadn't come, because at this point the cabby is saying he was here for Jason! So Jason and I are in the back and these 2 are outside the car screaming and cursing and flipping out.. Rob wouldn't even get in.. it was kind of funny. Finally Rob got in the these people were screaming and the cabby told them and I quote "Go fuck yourself" and took off! haha we made it home safely, with all our belongings.. all in all I would call that a successful night!

Today Jason inevitably isn't feeling his best! But we got up and showered and had breakfast before heading out to get a few groceries and stop at Sports Authority to look at hiking boots for me. We saw Josh's truck in the parking lot so as soon as we got in the store Jason took off to find him and I tried on a plethora of boots but nothing worked for me! So we headed home! Jason napped while I made lunches, cleaned and finished laundry!

Jason finally got up and made some chili dip.. Kristy I think you would be proud.. I actually like this one.. its pretty awesome.. check it out!

Then he decided he was going to grill, well were not suppose to grill... we are not suppose to have them, it says in our lease and it is against the municipal fire laws or whatever! He knew this. But he bought a little grill and he bought the charcoal today and he fired it up this afternoon. WELL.. I'm on call today and I get a call from our downstairs neighbour who is FREAKING OUT because she smells gas in her apartment!! I couldn't tell her that was she was smelling was my husband disobeying the rules of living here and grilling.. so I said I would check it out! So I waited and then called her back and told her that I went out and checked it out and it was someone grilling and I reminded them that it wasn't allowed and they put it out! She was fine with that and Jason just had to deal... the grill was at this point probably a waste of money! I figured this would happen but Jason insisted he had to have one, and I'm not going to lie I appreciate a good turkey burger on the grill.. and we got away with it in Toronto and Saskatchewan.. but no dice here! So we never had any dinner at all.

Back to work tomorrow! I'm suppose to learn to make slippers tomorrow at work! haha! I'm hoping the day goes by quickly and because I am REALLY looking forward to Tuesday and having Mani/pedi's with Tammy and Imelda! Ive even tried soooooo hard all week not to bite my nails and have been successful!! I'm just looking forward to a day off.. I feel like having two days off a week and its split up doesn't feel like much time off at all.. and because I work until later at night some things just have to be taken care of on my day off!

I hope you all enjoyed the weekend and wonderful weather you are having... NOT! You're assholes! Everyone of you that are posting it all over facebook and stuff.. how you are in your flip flops.. assholes!

I do really hope that everyone has a great week though.. really.. I'm not lying!!﻿

Saturday, March 17, 2012

On March 17, 2011 the world lost someone great, I lost someone great..
A year seems to have flown by and it still escapes me how to cope with this tremendous loss. Its not to say that I don't get up everyday, and smile and laugh.. I would be doing him a disservice to do anything but, however I still think about him all the time, I remember conversations, laugh about things said and done between us.. I hold my memories close to my heart.. and this is how I honor him everyday.

When I was a kid we use to visit Papa on weekends, I loved the Nome's in the gardens... all 972 of them. Being from the city sitting on the floor of the barn and feeding the chipmunks peanuts was not one of my regular activities. I loved that little house on Maplewood Avenue, I looked forward to my time there, as long as he was there. Once when Papa was away working in the city I decided that I would spend a week with nan at their house.. it lasted all of two days! Dad had to drive the 2 hours to get me as I sat on the porch waiting for him and then we made the 2 hour drive back, guess I wasn't cut out for being a long term house guest.

Its funny how playing a certain role in a family dynamic allows you to get away with different things, in Papa's later years in life he said what he thought and did what he wanted and took no shit for doing so.. Let me tell you I could never get away with voicing my opinions the way he did.. haha I'm not sure anyone could! However we expected it, we knew that he was going to tell it like it was whether we wanted to hear it or not.. he was going to be honest and we respected him all the more for it!

I say that I lost someone great, but as a family we lost our pillar... we lost the one person who held it all together, from the beginning. Have you ever thought about the term "real love" what defines it? Not until I was much older and out on my own did I realize that not every family is like our family, not every family has unconditional love, support, closeness. Not every family is lucky enough to have the values and morals that one needs to be a good person, to be the person that everyone else knows they can be. My family, my parents.. how lucky am I? I never went without, I never wanted for anything.. and material things aside I had everything I ever needed. Was my family perfect? absolutely not, but whose is? We never see perfection when we know nothing else, we never see the many blessings until we don't have it everyday. I didn't know how just how lucky I was until I didn't see it everyday.. haha talk about the grass not being so green on the other side.. how many times did you yell as a teenager "I CANT WAIT TO MOVE OUT!!" if you did, I'm sure you see it differently now.. and if you say those things now to your parents, really think about it.. because you are probably a lot luckier than you think.

I see these things now... I know that I couldn't have asked for better parents growing up, I learned how to be an honest person, a kind person, a person who puts other people first because I know that all my life I have come first to someone too. But if I learned that from them, who did they learn it from? Is it all one long line of wonderful people.. I don't know.. maybe. As far as I can see back it started with my Papa. He taught us all what it was like to be a family.. most family gatherings especially in his last years were for him. He taught us to love one another despite our flaws because blood is thicker than water, and we only have each other.. he taught us all to be the kind of person that was respected.. and in the end we wanted that because of the great respect we had for him.

I have no regrets when it comes to my relationship with him and because of that I have peace. After he died I struggled with indescribable guilt, guilt for not being there, guilt for not saying goodbye.. I made choices and my choices took me away from him when I felt like he needed me most, and because of that I will probably never have the closure that everyone else has. But I know he gets it, I know he understands.. I know that he supported my decision to be in the position I was and I know that he knows although I wasn't by his side physically I was there the whole way. I know that his last day here on earth was exactly how he would have wanted it... surrounded by love and family, I know that he is abundantly happy where he is and for that I am grateful. More than anything I am thankful that he taught us all so well that he left us with the means to go on without his beloved and sometimes outspoken guidance.

I may have lost him, but oh how blessed I was to have had him and in times of loss sometimes its hard to look back and see what was, and not what is now. I hope for all of you that have suffered a loss that you eventually get to a point where you can remember the laughs, the good times, those great conversations.. because that's why we make memories!

Today March 17, 2012 marks the one year anniversary the world lost a great man, and I hope today he is up in heaven drinking green beer and telling bad jokes at which he will laugh that lovable belly laugh!

I miss you tons you big horses dick!! I love you more than words can say!

I'm so excited!! I learned to crochet today!!! No kidding I have wanted to learn to crochet forever and Deanna came in today in a really great mood with her crocheting stuff and TA DA I learned how to do it.. check out what I mad!! They aren't perfect but for a first try I am perfectly happy with them!!

Haha pot holders!!! You are all getting a set for Christmas unless before then I learn how to make slippers.. if that's the case I might actually make everyone slippers!! Bob please show Joyce this, I really think she will appreciate it!

Nothing much going on today.. I could have swore last night I heard on the news that we were suppose to get 8-12 inches today and I nearly jumped out of bed and freaked out.. but I didn't! And its a good thing I didn't because it didn't snow at all today surprisingly! It was actually pretty nice out, not too cold or anything. So tonight Jason made pizza for dinner and it was GREAT and then we decided we would go for a walk.. we walked all the way down by the creek and around! I skated really.. Jason walked and I skated.. I'm serious my Uggs are a god damn death trap!! This weekend we are getting me some new hiking boots!

Check out some of the pictures from our walk.. its benches.. benches covered in snow, the lake, etc... This is the creek and lake right beside our apartment! Literally it was a 5 minute walk from our apartment!!

In the above picture you can see Jason running back from the creek, haha he came flying out of there so fast I thought he was running from something.. but apparently he was just having some fun!

On the way back we were walking along the trail and this jogger came up behind us and I didn't hear him at all and I totally freaked when he tried to get by us.. haha I'm so uneasy walking anywhere around here because I'm so scared something with four legs is going to eat me.. Jason was laughing hysterically at me!!

So we got home and I went for a bath and while I was in there I remembered that I forgot to leave the message on the phone at work tonight with the emergency number on it... so I jumped out of the tub threw on some clothes and had to go back to work and leave the message because if I didn't my luck there would be some kind of mega crisis and I would get in major shit.. and so far I'm in every ones good books so it wasn't worth it.. therefore I risked pneumonia going out with wet hair to make things right! See I'm a good employee who deserves time off when her family comes!!

Anyways I just watching Grey's Anatomy and Private Practise, Jason is taking the hard drive our of the computer and trying to put it in the little case he ordered from Hong Kong on it.. but so far its not fitting.. its probably not helping that he got shampoo in his eye when he was in the shower and cant see! haha!

I hope everyone is having a great week.. note my more frequent blogging!

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Alright so I haven't blogged in awhile.. but in my defense last week was shit and I just couldn't do it!
Ive been trying my best to cope with the worst home sickness I have ever suffered from! All last week I just wanted to sob, I wanted to go home.. I miss everyone so much and talking to everyone made it worse! I couldn't talk about it or I would just cry!! Thursday night Jason and I went out to see the Northern Lights because it was a really good show going on and I just sat in the truck and cried.. haha great company I was!! I don't know why, I don't know why I felt so awful but let me tell you it was AWFUL!!

Honestly I'm sick of the snow, which was going to inevitably happen but I'm really really sick of it! I'm sick of getting up everyday to more and more snow.. I'm sick of not being able to walk anywhere because there is so much so and ice everywhere that you can't move around the snow or you are slipping and sliding on the ice.. Ive had it! Fuck this snow filled bullshit winter.. WE HAVE 12 FEET ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!! Its obviously not helping that all you assholes at home are going on about your "spring like winter"... BITE ME! Obviously there is nothing I can do about it, but what I wouldn't give for some spring like weather, to not have to bundle up and still freeze every time I go outside! I miss flip flops.. or sock feet without slippers.. I miss real weather and not this bullshit cold!

So Friday night we planned to try the Northern Lights show again, but first we would go and meet all the guys at some bar and grill to play pool.. so Jason said we would have something small there but eat something small here first.. I had a quick sandwich and got ready, I felt exhausted and really didn't want to go but I figured we might as well! When we got to the pool hall it was by no means a grill.. haha apparently it once was but they just haven't changed the sign.. food available.. popcorn! So to make a long story short I only kind of remember leaving the bar.. I kind of remember singing in the back of the truck with Josh and Kris at the top of our lungs, although I have no idea what we were singing. I know I ate at the second bar.. but that's pretty much as far as my recollection goes.. I don't even remember drinking that much, I think its because I hadn't eaten.. whatever I felt better I bet! Until Saturday morning.. FUCK! I had to work and I was SOOOOO HUNG OVER!!! Jason thought it was hilarious because he didn't drink because he was driving.. he said that I was super shit faced and could barely stand.. although I can totally see Jason lying to me about the night to make it more amusing for himself. Saturday sucked! Having said that, Jason being wonderful like he can so often be brought me a wonderful lunch.. please see below my lovely meal of Starbucks Grande non-fat vanilla Chai Tea latte and Fred Meyers Chunky Chicken Tortilla soup!!

Needless to say we didn't do much on Saturday night, we stayed in and watched the movie The Secretariat with Diane Lane.. excellent movie! Then I went to bed because I was absolutely exhausted and just wanted the day to be over. Sunday we didn't do much.. I continued to cry on Sunday about being home sick.. this time at Walmart.. haha I know, I know.. We had a quiet afternoon at home and then I made a big dinner considering I really never cook anymore!

Monday at work was a joke.. I don't know what is going to happen with this job. Apparently there was an emergency call on Sunday and when Mike got to Creekside to see what was going on Tom was freaking out that I was suppose to be on call, blah blah blah.. well first of all no one has told me I'm suppose to be on call, no one has explained to me what constitutes an "emergency call".. I had absolutely no direction when I was instructed via a sticky note that I was suppose to be on call when they were both away when Tom had surgery! So as far as I'm concerned I'm not suppose to be on call on Sunday's until instructed. WELL.. apparently they see it differently! Apparently they think that I am going to be on call EVERY NIGHT including my day off and Sundays! I have to keep my house phone because I need to be on call and my cell phone is an out of state number so people cant call it apparently and if I want to go out somewhere I then I have to forward my house phone to my cell phone, which I'm not doing because we only have the house phone in the first place because our cell phones work off combined minutes. I absolutely ABSOLUTELY know that I was not told about being on call at night because I would have NEVER agreed to it on account that Jason usually works crazy hours and its not fair for him to have to be getting up in the middle of the night when he doesn't get much sleep anyways. Besides its bad enough that I have to be on call on Sundays!

It gets better if you can believe it... So I was informed on Monday that they will be going away for a month in September.. which is fine with me in regards to working by myself everyday.. GRAND! But I will have to work my days off, and be on call every night and Sundays!! So on top of that.. they wont be paying me for working my days off while they are gone, when they get back they will decide when its convenient for them for me to take an extra day off during the week! NOT HAPPENING! Who are these people? Everything that they don't want questioned is told to me via sticky note when I come in or voicemail when I get in.. like last Friday! I get to work before her all the time, so I make a tea and take off my jacket sit down to listen to the messages and there is only one.. from her.. apparently she no longer works on Fridays!! MUST BE NICE TO GET A 3 DAY WEEKEND EVERY WEEKEND!! Unbelievable!!

Today was my day off, so I got up early so Barb and I could chat FINALLY!!! Although I swear we didn't cover half of what I wanted to talk to.. I need to start making sticky notes and just sending her an envelope full every month! I think I could do that with a lot of people actually!! Then Tammy picked me up and we went and picked up Imelda who is Javier's wife and we headed to Walmart which is always a productive trip and then to a tiny bakery to get Glen a birthday cake because his birthday is on Thursday and I picked up these awesome looking soft flaky reindeer sausage and cheese pastries for Jason for lunch tomorrow!

So then we picked up Mary... her husband Mike works construction on the job, I have met her once before. We went to the mall which didn't go very far and then decided to go to lunch. We went to Humpy's to have fish and chips which I was SO excited about that but unfortunately it did not settle well in my stomach AT ALL! I don't know if it was the grease or what but whatever it tasted AWESOME at the time.. haha Jason thought so too when he ate what I brought home tonight as an after dinner snack!

So that's pretty much it, I'm feeling better about missing home but it still sucks! I think its because I know I cant just go and its hard. The time difference makes it so much harder because I never get to talk to anyone and I feel like I'm so out of the loop on everyones lives.. its so hard! I'm sure I will survive. I'm hoping this week flies by and this weekend we are going to get me some hiking boots and then Jason and I are going to head down to the creek for a nice long walk (weather pending.. you can never make too many plans in advance here) and then next Tuesday is Tammy's last day before she leaves to go home until JULY so we are going for Mani Pedi's which I am so excited for!

I will try and blog again before Saturday and let you know if I still have a job or if I have politely told them to go fuck themselves and my job search has begun!

Thursday, March 8, 2012

I forgot to share this picture, I took it last night after we dropped off our tax stuff.. we went for a little drive because the sun was shining and thats pretty rare around here.. it was beautiful out!

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Ok so I thought I would blog really quickly because Ive been slack and haven't done so in quite a few days and I said that I would make sure I made time to blog and I haven't.. besides I know that most of you I don't talk to on a individual basis all the time so this is the only way that you know whats going on.. but in all fairness you can all email me too.. this blog is so one sided.. you all know what is going on with me but I have no idea what is going on with any of you.

So whats been going on.. Monday work was crazy busy again which was fine because it goes by that much faster, I came home from work and Jason had made an AWESOME turkey pot pie.. as I say all the time Jason is a wonderful cook and turkey pot pie has to be my favourite thing he makes, so we went out and bought a rotisserie chicken (so I guess its actually chicken pot pie.. I lied) and after that we went to Target to pick up a few things, I swear it feels like we have to go there every other night.. clearly we aren't very proficient shoppers.. although really what I think it is, is that we don't decide what we are going to eat all week before we go shopping and if we do we decide we want other things and don't have all the stuff we need to make it.. haha hence the multiple shopping trips every week! But shopping with Jason is always a treat anyways. Check out the chicken pot pie and Jason in Target!

That is a picture of Jason trying to determine whether or not that chair and table set was practical for the deck and playing cribbage.. haha.. he needs to know these things!!

To be honest Monday was a SUPER SHITTY DAY though.. I got some pretty bad news in the morning (no fear, everyone is fine, its only bad news to me) and then Jason called me Monday night before picking me up from work to tell me that the IRS shit still wasn't solved and we could still potentially owe a lot of money.. FUCK! So when we got home I had to sign my pay checks and put the account number on them because I have to mail them to Bank of America.. if you don't know the deal on that they don't have either of our banks here and the company I work for wont do direct deposit so we either were going to have to open a new account (and I didn't want to have 3 bank accounts) or cash them in and have all kinds of cash laying around.. also not what I wanted to do. Anyways so we got home and I went to sit at the table and I smashed my knee off the chair and I instantly cried and screamed "I HATE THIS FUCKING DAY!!!!" haha.. and I stormed into the bathroom, ran the tub and laid in there and sobbed until I ran out of tears! I'm such a bawl ass!!

So Tuesday was my day off and Tammy and I had planned to go to lunch and not much more because I had to pick Jason up from work just after 3pm because we had an appointment at 4pm to get our taxes done! So I woke up to an email from Jason that a pipe foreman had fallen 25 feet the previous night and was on life support, they had basically closed site to all the craft and the guys were all in their trailers while they were investigating. Sadly the gentleman passed away last night. I guess he was that high up and didn't have his harness tied off.. really sad. Also Jason had had the time to get hold of the IRS and things are actually fine and we don't owe anything.. THANK GOD! So I went to lunch with Tammy and Jason ended up getting sent home so I came home.. for really no reason because Jason slept on the couch all afternoon but whatever. So we took the stuff to the accountant and hopefully we will get it back in 2 weeks or so.

Today was ridiculously boring.. I was on my own at work and NOTHING happened all day, no one called, no one came in the whole day was dead!! All I did all afternoon was listen to music and play on the computer.. haha nice life right? But I'm still miserable from the shit that went on Monday! Honestly I'm sick of winter too.. that's really not helping, it snows every god damn day, every morning you wake up to 4 more inches of snow!!

Anyways I just finished working on Mike's resume.. he really wants to get out of this job and move to Texas to be with his brother who is sick so I said I would help him out. I'm going to go for a hot bath and get some sleep tonight hopefully, I didn't sleep great last night and I had a surprise visit from Papa this morning ;) I know you are all thinking.. huh? its a long story.. but I would know that laugh anywhere... Kind of makes me feel better to know that when things aren't good I'm never alone!

Alright I hope you all enjoyed hump day! I promise to blog by the weekend!

Monday, March 5, 2012

This weekend CANT possibly be over! Honestly after this last week I'm wishing more than anything that this was a long weekend.. although having said that I have already been informed that the only long weekends I will get or day off rather is the 4th of July, Christmas day and New Years day.. Stellar!

So I was all on my own this week at work and it was absolutely ridiculous busy.. it was the beginning of the month so all the rents were due and people are calling to tell me why their rents are going to be late, etc.. plus move ins and move outs.. etc! It was just a super busy week and it snowed every god damn day.. Saturday we got a TON of snow.. Ive pretty much had it with the snow. Here is why... this is our walk way and the driveway at work.. ridiculous.. look at all the snow on the roofs!

Not to mention Ive been on call 24/7 all week and go figure every night I have gotten an emergency call.. unbelievable! So last night I said screw it, they don't pay me to stay home.. so we picked up Josh and met Zach at the Firetap Ale House for dinner and beers! Usually the pizza is awesome but last night it sucked, but the beer was good and that's what I really went there for! So Josh and I drank beers and convinced Jason and Zach to go to Eddies.. some dive bar close to Josh's place, they have a band there on Friday and Saturday nights.. so we had a hell of a time getting there with all the fucking snow and by the time we got there I had to pee so bad but was scared to venture to the bathroom.. in the end I didn't have a choice.. I went to the washroom and none of the doors locked so some girl said she would hold the door for me.. haha ok? Then on the way out I was looking for the guys and some guy says "I would marry you"... haha! This place was a joke! Anyways we continued to drink beers.. mostly Josh and I because Zach looked uncomfortable and wanted to leave and Jason was driving.. so we sat around talking about how much Josh misses Tanya, which I'm not going to lie was super cute! - Tanya I'm giving Josh a ton of brownie points and so should you.. he said he has wanted to go see this band for awhile but didn't think it was appropriate to go to the bar by himself without you.. all night he talked about how hard it is here without you.. it was super cute! So we eventually went downstairs to check out the band and I met George Strait.... haha well not really but he looked IDENTICAL to him.. I guess I sat in his friends seat which is what started him talking to me.. Jason and Josh were standing on the other side of me. Then we stopped talking and I was talking to the guys and then he tapped on my knee and I turned around and he asked "do you think your boyfriend would mind if we danced?".. haha I told him I didn't know but I wasn't very good at two steppin'.. anyways Jason wasn't for it at all so he eventually got up and moved. So we stayed for awhile longer, I was watching the band and all the sudden Jason and Josh bust out singing at the top of their lungs Dierks Bentley.. haha!

Today Jason and I took a drive to Girdwood, the whole drive is on the coast, we went to Alyeska ski resort and all up around Turnagain Arm.. the drive was awesome, I took a ton of pictures that I will send out after this hopefully. The drive was great though and then we came home and Jason cleaned the truck while I did laundry and made dinner.

Here are some pictures to hold you over until I send the other ones.. This is of the Portage Glacier.. its pretty amazing!

I'm actually pretty exhausted.. I don't want to go to work at all tomorrow!! This being on call 24/7 is bullshit..

On a good note we got an EXCELLENT post card in the mail yesterday.. Bob.. you shit! I will admit that postcard was pretty epic.. but with all the snow we've been getting the humor was more elevated than usual. Check it out.. pretty clever I would say..

That's pretty much it here, I would write more but I'm in a bad mood and I just want to go for a bath and go to bed. I'm hoping tomorrow night I will be able to pick up my wedding ring.. I sent it in AGAIN to be fixed after they fucked it up so bad when they had it in North Carolina to clean it and I talked to the manager at the store that sent it away on Friday night and she said she got the list of things that had been done to it and it was EXTENSIVE and quite costly (to them, because they did the damage in the first place and I have a lifetime warranty on it) but she didn't think I would get it back until Monday, so hopefully that is the case and it better be a lot better then it was or I'm going to lose it. I have a major complaint in with Kay Jewellers themselves and I'm told they are investigating but I don't have a lot of faith in that. I'll kee you posted as to what happens there.

Ok Im going to put the pictures up in the morning instead of tonight! But I will do it in the morning I promise!

Well its fucking cold here.. period! My fingers literally freeze on the 5 minute walk to work every morning.. its absolutely ridiculous! I don't know what I dislike more.. the mountains of snow that just keep coming or the absolute freezing cold! It seems like every morning I wake up and there is either more snow or the door is frozen shut! I'm not complaining too much though.. on the north slope its -85F and in Valdez they have like 50 feet of snow.. so I suppose to can always be worse!

So this week I have been on my own at work and its going really well basically. I'm not overly impressed that I went into a note yesterday that said that I would have to be on call at night and of course when I'm on call at night Ive been getting calls! Jason is furious about it and I don't blame him.. I knew that there was a chance I would have to be on call on Sundays and what could I really say about it but I cant be on call all night every night... I don't get paid enough for that and I really don't think its fair. I was really left with a lot of things this week to take care of that she could have very easily taken care of before she left, or to be honest she could have been here to help with. I was told that I could contact her anytime to ask questions and when Ive tried he answers the phone and wont let me talk to her! He's super ignorant too.. if he can answer the phone that I'm sure he can do ok on his own and she could come back to work. She called yesterday just to ask me to put on the ice maker at the model and she would pick up some ice today for this ice machine Tom is using on his arm and so Ive been making ice and putting it in a bag for her and she never showed. Whatever.

So that's really it for us.. I'm tired this week, Ive been sleeping like shit. Today was crazy busy and I don't suspect tomorrow will be much better on account that its the beginning of the month and rent is due. Hopefully this weekend we will get a chance to go for a drive or something but we are suppose to get a bunch of snow again and going outside of Anchorage it just gets worse.

I promise to have something more interesting next blog.. this one sucks but I felt bad for not writing for a couple nights.

I hope everyone is having a great week! You know you can all feel free to email me and let me know how things are going with you too!!